Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang took a closer look.
He saw Lin Gu summon his Martial Soul, but that Martial Soul transformed from a white garment into a breastplate.
And that breastplate gave off a faint orange-red glow.
Yu Xiaogang paused, then asked:
"Lin Gu, did you hunt down a Soul Ring, causing your Martial Soul to change? Still, it only changed from ordinary clothing into armor, and only a top at that. At most, it adds a little defense. It's not much use."
Lin Gu chuckled and continued:
"Grandmaster, come take a closer look. There's something even stranger!"
Yu Xiaogang paused. Lin Gu didn't seem to have a Soul Ring, and he'd only been gone a short while. Hunting down a Soul Ring in that time made no sense, so he stepped forward to take a closer look.
Yu Xiaogang slowly approached, while Lin Gu's foot was already poised to strike.
Yu Xiaogang came up to him and asked:
"What else is strange?"
Lin Gu chuckled and leaned forward a little, deliberately saying this to distract Yu Xiaogang:
"Grandmaster, look at my Martial Soul. It can also..."
"It can also kick you! Hahaha!"
The moment he finished speaking, Lin Gu's right foot suddenly shot toward Yu Xiaogang's right buttock.
Unable to dodge in time, Yu Xiaogang was instantly knocked down. He fell to the floor in pain and cursed:
"You brat, you tricked me again! Just watch how I deal with you!"
Lin Gu clutched his belly with laughter and stuck his tongue out at him, only to see someone arrive:
"Grandmaster, look! Tang-Tang-Tang Hao..."
Yu Xiaogang snorted. "Would I, Yu Xiaogang, fall for that twice? Tang Hao? I've never met him. Bibi Dong might fool me!"
As he finished speaking, a weathered-looking man had appeared on his desk at some point. It was Tang San's father, Tang Hao.
Tang Hao naturally knew Lin Gu, since they came from the same village. He merely considered what had just happened children's horseplay, so he said coldly:
"Grandmaster!"
Yu Xiaogang turned around, only to see Tang Hao toss him a badge. One look at it sent his whole face trembling:
"A Pope Token? You are...?"
"I am Tang Hao!"
Yu Xiaogang was dumbfounded. The brat wasn't lying to me.
But by then, Lin Gu had already slipped away, leaving Yu Xiaogang furious yet helpless.
Lin Gu ran outside. According to the plot, Tang Hao had come to see Yu Xiaogang, and with that kick just now, he had indeed felt the effect of [Heartsteel].
Lin Gu looked at the panel before him:
[HP: 1,100]
"Looks like Big Gangzi has ten thousand HP. He gave me a thousand HP. Not bad."
Lin Gu smiled. As for the rest, if I "steel" Yu Xiaogang once an hour, won't I break ten thousand HP in a day?
Hahaha!
And ever since obtaining his first piece of equipment, he had faintly felt his Soul Power approaching a breakthrough to rank ten.
That means this equipment is separate. I can still hunt down Soul Rings!
That's fantastic!
I'll stack up my HP first, then absorb one with a high age.
Actually, with [Heartsteel], Soul Rings no longer mattered much to Lin Gu. Still, absorbing a better one would be good. It would raise his rank a few more levels, and who would complain about their Soul Ring's age being too high?
Having made his plans, Lin Gu headed for the dormitory.
He passed through corridor after corridor. Nuoding Academy was bustling with activity.
Before long, he arrived at Dorm Seven. Lin Gu knocked and waited a while, but no one opened the door.
He thought for a moment. Those brats inside must have been playing a prank.
Seeing that his [Heartsteel] was nearly fully charged, Lin Gu thought, I'll definitely have to fight once I go in. I might as well wait until it's fully charged, then go in and steel someone. Who will I end up steeling?
Tang San?
Or...?
Lin Gu simply wandered around the academy for a while. Once [Heartsteel] had fully charged, he knocked on Dorm Seven's door again.
When no one opened it, Lin Gu pushed the door open himself and asked:
"Anyone here?"
He had barely finished speaking when a palm strike came straight at him. A little girl dressed in pink struck at him-none other than Xiao Wu!
Instantly, everyone except Tang San began clamoring:
"Dorm Seven's rules: whoever wins the fight is the boss."
Lin Gu only wanted to steel someone, so he gathered his strength and thrust out a palm, meeting Xiao Wu's palm head-on. The force of that strike pushed Xiao Wu back.
Xiao Wu thought to herself, This guy's pretty strong.
Instantly, Lin Gu felt his HP increase. Five hundred HP received!
His current HP: 1,600!
Xiao Wu's HP was pretty good. At six years old, she already had half as much HP as Big Gangzi.
Then Xiao Wu shouted and sent another palm strike his way!
"Again! Take my palm!"
By now, Lin Gu had successfully steeled her and was charging up again. Naturally, he didn't want to fight anymore, so he immediately raised both hands!
"I surrender!"
Xiao Wu immediately pulled back her hand, but abruptly failed to stop her momentum and toppled against Lin Gu's chest.
Xiao Wu lifted her gaze slightly, looking at Lin Gu's chiseled face. She pressed her lips together and said:
"What's with you? Why surrender before we've even fought?"
Lin Gu spread his hands and said, "I don't want to be the boss. You can have it!"
Xiao Wu pouted. Seeing that Lin Gu no longer had any will to fight, she said:
"All right, from now on, I'm the boss of Dorm Seven. My name is Xiao Wu-the Wu in 'dance.' What about you, newcomer?"
"I'm Lin Gu!"
Tang San scratched his head behind them without saying much. The children played around for a while, then went to bed.
Before going to sleep, Lin Gu found opportunities to pat Tang San and several other roommates.
As long as he intended it as an attack, even a touch could "steel" them.
Thus, he gained 400 HP from Tang San, while the others only gave him 300 each.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Wu had the most HP in all of Dorm Seven.
As for the night, Lin Gu couldn't possibly wake up every hour to "steel" someone, so he thought better of it.
Early the next morning, Lin Gu stretched luxuriously, only to notice a tiny number 8 in the bottom-right corner of [Heartsteel] in his Martial Soul equipment slots!
Lin Gu froze!
Could [Heartsteel]'s effect be stored and stacked?
The night lasted about nine hours, so it stored nine chances to "steel" for me?
That's wonderful!
So Lin Gu pretended to wake everyone up. Since Xiao Wu had the most HP here, he took every opportunity to touch her, using all nine strikes on Xiao Wu.
"Xiao Wu, your big brother Lin Gu's massage feels pretty good, right?"
"Mmm, Big Brother Lin Gu, you're pretty good at this. It feels so nice!"
Under the pretext of loosening up Xiao Wu's shoulders, Lin Gu used all nine strikes and gained 4,500 HP.
His mind was on "steeling," and he failed to notice Tang San's expression beside them!
Tang San swallowed as he watched Lin Gu and Xiao Wu. For some reason, he felt strange inside!
Thus, over the course of that day and night, Lin Gu's HP soared straight to:
[HP: 7,700]
Looking at his HP, Lin Gu had originally planned to spend all his strikes "steeling" Yu Xiaogang, but on second thought, that would be too inconvenient. Besides, Yu Xiaogang would be on guard, so it certainly wouldn't be so easy anymore. He might as well stick to whoever was nearby. After all, he could keep increasing it without limit.
I can easily break ten thousand today. Still, Big Gangzi really does have a thick HP pool. I'll find a way to kick him a few more times later. Haha!